Humans
Humanity has often had difficulty in uniting their scattered and diverse race. This is evident when one examines the kingdoms of Normandal in the far north of Caerundal. Though this land’s history extends back for thousands of years, there has never been any unified human force, but several fragmented kingdoms. The Suthans, a group of humans, entered Caerundal around 7500 BET, settling in the equatorial, jungle-ridden areas of the south and displacing the Ssalodians that lived there. Though easily adaptable, humanity didn’t fare well there. The soil, though suitable for lush vegetation, was not suitable for the crops that the humans had brought with them. To feed themselves, the Suthans resorted to fishing and raiding others for food, mostly the elven tribes to the north. They justified their raids by the belief that all things belong to those who are strong enough to take them. The southern jungles were ripe with diseases that these settlers had no immunity to as well. Plagues ran rampant through the Suthan population and decimated its numbers. On top of this, the Ssalodians that had been pushed out of their land by the Suthans waged constant war on the humans. It is said that the some Ssalodians called the diseases upon the Suthans by praying to Anann. The Suthans developed a highly warlike culture that was shaped by constant war with the Ssalodians and dependence on raiding other peoples in order to survive. Due to their small population, both men and women were trained to fight and it was considered the highest honor to die for one’s people. Because of this, the majority of their entire population was armable which resulted in the survival of the Suthans. Noros, the Valiant, became a legendary hero of these early Humans for winning many battles against varying foes; he also killed a great Elven warrior named Threnuil Dornuind, who was infamous for his hatred of Humans. Fully armed and desperate for land so as to survive, the Suthans marched north to the Elven lands. Passing by the Isles of Taltaror, the humans fell upon the landlocked elven tribes with a fury. Noros looked upon the elves with disdain, believing that they did not deserve their land if they could not protect it. He was methodical and clever in his invasion, directing his smaller forces to take on a much larger elven population. He instructed his troops to torch or take all elven ships that they could find which gave the Suthans dominance over the waterways which divided the river riddled elven lands. The elves tribes, never having dealt with aggression on such a scale before, were nearly shattered. They quickly regrouped though and, while the Suthans controlled the coast, banks, and riverways, still held much of the interior of the country. The elves could not unify as they were geographically cut off from each other, so there was no powerful push by the elves to displace the Suthans. Noros did make a fatal mistake in his otherwise brilliant invasion: he spread his forces too thin. When Elcarien Anadhael arrived from Taltaror with a small army, including badly needed ships for the elves, he was easily able to take out the small bands of humans that confronted him and took control of a south Eldarien river. From there, he was able to rally more and more elves until they stood unified. After a massive defeat at the Battle of the Raging Fire, Noros summoned his remaining Suthans and they fled northward. While the Suthans were in control of the coasts and banks of Eldariel, Noros had pressed his people to establish themselves in that land. At his encouragement, dozens of small villages and hundreds of children were born. While most of these villages and residents elected to flee with the rest of the Suthans, the elves permitted those that were born in that land to stay. These parentless Suthans remained a small minority along the riverbanks of Eldariel and developed a culture of their own. The bulk of the Suthans moved north, however. Limping into what is today known as Normandal, they had a remarkable resurgence. Outside of a few hobbit villages, there were no permanent settlements in this cold region. The main inhabitants were nomadic dwarves that drove their herds throughout the area. Though the local dwarven nomads fought viciously to protect their ancient pasturelands, the Suthans quickly brushed their token and sporadic defense aside and settled along the shores and banks of what became to be known as the kingdom of Norolan in 6983BE. There, a middle-aged Noros the Valiant settled and established the city of Noron in 6981BE. Over five years, he had three children: Caros, Alder, and Arisnor. Humanity, as is commonplace, adapted quickly to their new homes. Their population exploded as they began to settle farmsteads and converted their fleet of warships to a fleet of fishing ships which provided a large surplus of food that was able to support a larger population. Their people grew happier in this time, finally believing themselves to have a home of their own after generations of warfare. In honor of Noros, their leader to this salvation, they renamed themselves the men of Noros, which eventually come to be Norosmen and, finally, Normen. As the years passed, the Normen population expanded dramatically. Settlers from the city began to push out into the firmly dwarven lands, creating farmsteads and converting dwarven pastures into plowed fields. The dwarves, hearing of the devastation that the Normen had caused to the south, recognized the threat that the Normen posed. With the Normen influence rapidly expanding within the North, the dwarves rallied together within their clans to attempt to drive out the Normen, who were flushing them out from their homes with their expanse. Thorber Alkr, leader of one the larger clans within the North, was one of the first commanders to lead an army against the Normen. However, when his army – which was vast considering the population of Northern Caerundal at the time – had reached the peak of the mountains overlooking Noron, the sight overwhelmed him and his men. Thousands of innocents roamed the lands, farming, building, looking after their children. Windmills, animal barns, markets, flooded the streets, rather than military barracks, training grounds, and archery stands. After seeing this, Thorber took his personal guards and met with the leader of Noron. After a long discussion, Thorber realised that Noron wasn’t expanding militaristically: but purely because of natural growth. He decided that Noron was a threat, but not to the dwarves themselves, and both leaders came upon a treaty that they will not go against each other, and each had designated expansion lands. It was harder for the other Dwarf clans, but because of Thorber’s influence and army, he explained to the others of the true expanse behind Noron, and it was not long until the dwarves turned around, and left Noron in peace. Humans soon expanded all across the North, becoming adapted to the sheer cold, and lack of animals suited for the cold. Several other cities of the Normen grew, as they spread across the entirety of the land. There was rarely another war, due to the other races’ lack of interest in the lands, due to their disadvantages in comparison to the richer South. The Suthans who stayed, however, were completely different. Those who remained in the Southern Jungle were their own tribes, still keeping the thoughts of what was theirs was what they could take, and they became tribes, dotted around the biome, mainly worshipping fire, due to its uses, as well as building vast temple-like structures to worship the fire, as well as sacrifice those who had done wrong within their lands, in order to please the ‘gods’. They never expanded outside the jungle, and their descendents became to think that it was the only land there: with no absolute knowledge of the outside world. The only others they knew were the people from other tribes, and the very few remaining Ssalodians, who roamed the jungles in search of others of their kind, or those who are fleeing away from the tribesmen. Those who lived with the elves grew to be very similarly cultured due to their place of residence, which was usually the elven river cities, however some did go travelling on their own, some running into less-friendlier areas, others joining the hobbits in their cities, usually in the central area of Northern Caerundal. As the Normen soon completed their expansion, many travellers had left the realm, heading South, mainly for exploration, as well as knowledge and power – which was an occasional topic within the cities of Norolan, and soon vast amounts of people would leave with vast trains of carts carrying materials, food and water, the humans in hope of creating settlements further south, in the warmer and more fertile lands. Most travellers were intercepted by the current elven lands, but some groups did manage to reach the forests and mountains just south of Norolan, where they set up their own encampments. After several years, more towns began to develop just past the Southern borders of Norolan, and the humans expanded southwards, settling undisturbed land, in hope of not provoking war. This begun the Human’s eventual expansion South, which, most were of Normen descent, but there were times when the Normen would meet with travellers who had lived once in the elven river settlements, and had come to found their own peaceful villages. As the people expanded, more and more of them became unified, and their settlements grew rapidly and expansively, eventually reaching a vast coverage of the race all across the land. 'Subraces ' ''Normen - Very pale skin color usually clothed heavily with animal hides, their armour forged chain steel. Usually they have red hair, though blonde and brown hair is also common for a few. They were relatively small, men reaching 5’8”, women only 5’3”. Most were relatively stocky, due to the rich foods within the larger cities of Norolan.'' ''Suthans - Very tanned skin, very darkened from constant exposure to the sun. They usually clothed themselves in war paints forged from the juices of berries scattered around the jungle, as well as feathered torsos and skirts, collected from the exotic birds which lived in their nests high in the jungle trees. Other than a vastly influential feathered hat only worn by the generals and lead tribesman of the Suthan tribes, they wore little, due to the intense daily heat. Their hair was usually blackened, or dark brown, however there were a few red-headed, which were known as those who had been ‘touched by the fire’.'' 'Physical Description' '''Age: '''Humans age and mature very rapidly. They may reach the age of 80 years if they are lucky but most die from disease or battle much earlier in their life '''Height: '''A fully grown Human stands at around 5 to 6 ft tall. Children are much shorter but shoot up in height during adolescence. '''Weight: '''The nature of Humanity leaves a very broad range of shapes and sizes. They can range from immense whales of people, scoffing themselves on cake and wine, to people who seem to be merely skeletons with skin. '''Garments: '''From hoods to robes to doublets to armour, Humans have the most diverse and varying wardrobe of any race. Their garments often reflect who they are and where they come from and differ immensely from person to person. '''Appearance: '''Humans vary greatly in their appearance, however all have two legs and a face that always seems to be hiding something... at least to all the other races. One of the main factors of their appearance is where their ancestors originated from.